How the City's $3M Grant
Program and $36M Investment
Transforms the Arts Landscape and Enriches the Community
CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 27,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Charlotte and its partners are taking
bold steps to ensure a thriving, equitable future for arts and
culture through its Arts and Culture Plan and the innovative
Opportunity Fund grants. Since 2021, the City of Charlotte, Foundation For The
Carolinas, and other private donors have allocated $36 million through the Infusion Fund, a
three-year partnership to stabilize the local arts and culture
sector and dedicate dollars to artists and communities that had
historically been underserved. While providing a mix of
unrestricted and restricted funding to organizations and individual
creatives, the city's arts and culture advisory board, which
allocates funding, and a community steering group also developed
the Charlotte Arts and Culture Plan — a long-term plan to sustain
and grow arts and culture in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County over the next ten
years.
As part of this effort, the Infusion Fund created the
Opportunity Fund grant — a unique, timely project grant initially
offered monthly to prioritize artists' timelines rather than
funders' timelines. The Opportunity Fund grants catalyze community
development and cultural enrichment. By providing equitable,
accessible, and inclusive funding, the program ensures historically
marginalized groups have the resources to thrive. The city's
commitment extends beyond funding, with strategies to provide
affordable spaces, eliminate barriers to participation, and enhance
visibility through effective communication. In its first year
alone, Opportunity Fund grants provided approximately $1.6 million to nearly 70 artists and groups to
catalyze near-term projects, programs, and initiatives.
This month, with nearly $1.2
million awarded to 35 artists and groups, this cycle of the
Opportunity Fund initiative launches implementation of the broader
10-year plan designed to sustain and cultivate the local arts and
culture scene, enriching the community and supporting diverse
artistic expression. The funded projects will advance 13 strategies
across five of the eight priorities in the plan, including Access
to Affordable Space, Fostering Collaboration, and Enhancing Arts
Education.
Priya Sircar, the city's first arts and culture officer,
emphasized the objective: "Our goal is to create a sustainable and
inclusive arts and culture ecosystem where creativity can flourish
and everyone can participate. That means trying new things as we
evolve for the next decade."
Since the Infusion Fund was announced in 2021, the city and its
private sector partners, including the Foundation For The Carolinas
and several private foundations and corporations, have given
$36 million to fund local arts and
culture. Giovanna Torres used her
2023 Opportunity Fund grant to launch Charlotte's first-ever Latino Film Festival,
showcasing 11 award-winning Latino films in April 2024. "I was ecstatic to know that the
panel reviewers and the city believe in the project. They see the
importance behind it and they see it as a meaningful
investment."
Similarly, Charlotte's Poet
Laureate Junious "Jay" Ward created a professional development
program for local poets. Thanks to the grant, 40 poets gained
valuable skills and learned more about the business side of their
craft. Ward said, "The grant not only made it possible for it to
happen, but made it feasible. . . It is tremendously important that
these funds exist, that there is access to these funds, and that
artists know about them and take advantage of applying."
These successes reflect the broader impact of the Infusion Fund
on Charlotte's arts scene,
fostering creativity and community engagement and advancing other
modes of support. For example, this spring, applicants were
provided one-on-one coaching by grant writing experts, paid by the
Fund to help applicants strengthen their proposals and
grant-seeking skills. In addition to financial aid, the latest
awardees will receive guidance and support from a research team at
UNC Charlotte who will help them
measure and evaluate the impact of their projects and the Charlotte
Regional Visitors Authority will amplify marketing of the funded
projects.
Sircar highlighted, "Arts and culture are essential to the
vibrancy and cohesion of our community. They not only bring people
together and enhance social ties, but they also contribute millions
of dollars to our local economy and improve the quality of life for
all residents."
While there has been a recent pattern of disinvestment in arts
and culture around the country, Charlotte stands out by pioneering a program
that has not only boosted funding and other support for artists,
aiming to create a dynamic and supportive environment, but also
recently stepping up its public funding for arts, which is in
keeping with the first recommendation in the Arts and Culture Plan.
On June 10, the city approved an
$11 million investment to create a
sustainable arts ecosystem with an additional $10 million from Mecklenburg County, for a total commitment of
$21 million from the public
sector.
"Between the historic, increased public funding for arts and
culture and the new methods of support like the Opportunity Fund,
we think we've laid a strong foundation for the continued growth
and sustainability of arts and culture," Sircar said. "Hopefully we
inspire other funders — locally and perhaps elsewhere — to try new
approaches."
Contact:
Mary Cullen
mary@npstrategy.com
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SOURCE City of Charlotte Arts and Culture